RiskUKOctober2017

Security Research Initiative focuses on key
considerations for security business sector
The Security Research Initiative (SRI) has just
published two excellent reports addressing key
considerations for the security industry.
Together, these comprehensive documents seek
to understand and highlight the ways in which
private security can help protect the public – in
both private and public space – and how
security’s vital role may be enhanced. They call
upon various stakeholders to consider how, as
an underused and largely capable resource,
private security can best be used, not least in
times of austerity.
The 42-page report entitled Towards ‘A
Strategy for Change’ for the Security Sector
aims to provide a foundation for thinking about
and developing a ‘Strategy for Change’ for the
security business sector. It seeks to provide a
rationale for why private security is important
and suggests ideas (for wider debate) about
how its potential might be realised.
The document is based on three overarching
aims: Government must be encouraged to
develop a strategy for harnessing the enormous
contribution of the private security sector when
it comes to preventing crime, the private
security sector must commit to developing an
ability to talk with a more united and coordinated
voice and the private security sector
must commit to highlighting the enormous
benefits it generates – including those for the
public good – and also commit to ways of
enhancing them. Much of what it currently does
is unheralded and underacknowledged.
The second SRI report, entitled Police Views
on Private Security, runs to 66 pages and
discusses findings from responses provided by
1,361 serving police officers to an online survey
focused on attitudes towards the private
security sector (ie private security suppliers and
corporate security departments). This is
designed to inform the strategy for better
engaging private security.
“Overall, it’s evident that the police officers
surveyed view the private security sector as
useful in some of the aspects of the work that
the police service conducts, and even necessary
in some cases,” stated PRCI’s director Professor
Martin Gill CSyP FSyI (pictured).
Professor Gill continued: “That said, there
appears to be a lack of appetite in the private
security sector for taking a greater role in
supporting or otherwise working in partnership
with the police, and especially so where this
would amount to private security undertaking
‘policing’ tasks in public space.”
Close to six-in-ten respondents believe
private security plays a minor role in protecting
members of the public, while corporate security
departments are seen as being important in
helping the police in their work by 62% of
respondents, but security officers much less so
(with a result of 36%).
Reputation tops list of business priorities in Organisational Resilience study
Protecting reputation tops business leaders’ lists of priorities ahead of financial achievements and
business leadership. That’s according to the world’s first benchmarking study of Organisational
Resilience published by the British Standards Institution.
The study finds that reputation is seen as the most important element in relation to the longterm
success of a business, even more so than financial aspects, leadership and vision and
purpose. Despite this, 43% of those professionals interviewed as part of the global study believe
their organisation is strongly susceptible to reputational risk.
No fewer than 1,250 senior leaders of organisations across the globe participated in the study,
which covers ten sectors across three regions: the UK and Ireland, the USA and the Asia Pacific
region. The magnitude of reputational risk was found to vary by geography. Globally, 62% rate their
organisation’s current reputation as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Very good’, but this figure rises to 75% in the US
and falls to 55% and 56% in the UK and Ireland and Asia Pacific respectively.
Out of the 16 elements that make up Organisational Resilience, the study found that the most
and least important are as follows: Most important Reputational Risk, Financial Aspects,
Leadership, Vision and Purpose and Information and Knowledge Management Least important
Horizon Scanning, Alignment, Community Engagement, Culture and Adaptive Capacity.
The study also investigated how these elements ranked in terms of perceived performance. It
found the following: Highest performing Financial Aspects, Alignment, Leadership, Vision and
Purpose and Governance and Accountability Worst performing Supply Chain, Innovation, Horizon
Scanning, Information and Knowledge Management and Awareness, Training and Testing.
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